The Voice of Vocation

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“Your hands,” Job declared in the Ancient Hebrew texts, “have formed me and shaped me” (Job 10:8). The Psalmist echoed these words by saying, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14-15). In short, God went to great lengths to make you – you. Scripture makes it clear that God has intricately designed each of us. He has placed you on this earth, at this particular point in history.

The Apostle Paul once said, “from one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-28).

This sounds poetic and idealistic, but what if it’s actually true?

What if God has a design for each of our lives?

What if we were placed in history, at this particular time, by God’s intention?

If we really understood this, would we merely allow life to happen to us? I don’t think anyone wakes up one day and says, “I’m just going to let life happen to me as it may.” No one intentionally reflects, “I’m just going to let things pile up around me, until my schedule dictates my every move.” But if we’re not careful, this becomes our reality. At times, it’s easy to stop living intentionally and simply find our selves going through the motions. Slowly we become satisfied with merely “making a living” and getting by.

Somewhere in life, often with the help of well-intended advisors, we chose a “career” path that was to direct us toward the fulfillment of our goals in life. Unfortunately, they never informed us of the hidden reality behind the aforementioned glimmering “career.” Interestingly, the very word “career” is derived from the French word for “racetrack.” An apt word picture for “career” is that of a bunch of horses racing in endless circles getting nowhere. For many, a career is often nothing more than a rat race. Always chasing something bigger and better, yet never satisfied and content with the current reality. The chasing the career cheese is often motivated and fueled by some idea of the American Dream and rising above the perceived status quo of those around us. This is not God’s desire, nor design.

There’s another word that is often used interchangeably with career. Vocation. It’s often used as a synonym, but it carries with it a completely different meaning than that of career. Vocation comes from the Latin verb “vocare.” It means, “to call.” Vocation is often referred to as “a calling,” because vocation is something that calls to you – it’s your calling.

Vocation is not a goal that I pursue, it is a calling that I hear. “Before you can tell your life what you intend to do with it,” writes Paker Palmer, “I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”

Vocation does not emerge from some voice “out there” that’s calling me to become something I am not. No, vocation comes from a voice “in here” calling me to be the person I was born to be. The premise here is that God shaped me and formed me, even in my mother’s womb. Therefore, true and full life is discovered and lived when I discover and become the person God created me to be.

Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?’”

When my life is done and over with, I pray it will be said of me as it was said of King David in the New Testament. Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed” (Acts 13:36).

God placed you on the earth, at this time, in this place, for a purpose. There are passions that God has planted within you. There’s a Voice (your vocation) that is calling out from within. There is a world with needs that you have been intricately designed to address. To fully live is to hear His voice and align your life according. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” Vocation, writes Parker Palmer, at its deepest level is, “This is something I can’t not do, for reasons I’m unable to explain to anyone else and don’t fully understand myself but that are nonetheless compelling.”

What is your vocation?

What is it that really drives and motivates you?

What does your heart beat for?

You will never experience fulfillment in this life, until in Christ, you discover how God has designed you and what He’s calling you to do.

A FEW QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

• What do my dreams and desires drift toward?
• What do I really want to do for God?
• What motivates me to take action?
• What do I crave?
• What can I do to help you more?
• What do I care about?
• What pursuit would release the passion in my life for God? 
• What God-centered dreams can I identify that have been buried by life? 
• Who do I feel I can most profoundly influence for God?
• What age range do I feel led to minister to?
• What affinity group do I feel led to serve?
• How could I impact them in a way that maximizes my gifts?
• What needs will I meet?
• What would I attempt to do for God with the rest of my life?
• What cause or issue makes my heart race?
• Where could I make the greatest impact for God?
• If time wasn’t an issue, to what cause would I donate myself?

Whether you turn to the right or to the left,
your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,
“This is the way; walk in it.”
–Isaiah 30:21